For someone who only completed three major feature films in his short career, James Dean's effect on popular culture is truly remarkable. It's not just the films themselves, but the personality and magnetism that James Dean demonstrated that attracts such fascination and admiration. James Dean's performances suggest much more. His reaction to the world around him seems to sum up the way so many young people around the world relate to their lives. He was raised by his aunt and uncle in Fairmont, Indiana, and every September they have a week-long James Dean festival there. . A concert and open-air film screenings are held in the city center in memory of their famous son. Its appeal, however, is more widespread. The James Dean fan club is a worldwide phenomenon. Photos of the young star, the pale, wounded-looking, brooding man, adorn T-shirts and bedroom walls. Her image, like that of Marilyn Monroe, is universal and immediately recognisable. Many films have been made about his short life and countless articles and books have been written about him. His violent death at the wheel of his beloved Porsche racing car has been re-examined from every angle. The driver of the other car involved in the accident spent his life being chased to be interviewed about that fateful afternoon. An automotive museum in the United States has offered $1 million for the remains of the wrecked car Dean drove that September day. It seems like people are endlessly trying to get closer to the enigma that was James Dean. He has become the idol of every teenager who mutters "You don't understand me" to perplexed parents. Yet Dean somehow encompasses so much more than that. There is a confusion in his presence, an unanswered question and a hidden quality about him. As far as people can tell, his real life and his off-screen character seem to be inseparable. It expresses vulnerability as well as a certain amount of danger and unpredictability. You could never be sure what he would do or say next. In the roles he made famous there is always a sense of mischief that he manages to convey. You never take your eyes off him and in true rebellious style; he is always at odds with the world around him. That world was the post-World War II generation. It was the same one that created the iconic, misunderstood and rebellious Marlon Brando, the fiery and grumpy actor who was and perhaps still is a legend.